Scientists resign from journal demanding open access to research papers

Resignation of five leading German scientists from editorial positions of Elsevier journals, leading publishers of scientific research, is the latest in the fight for open access to scientific information.

A consortium of open access advocates, Projekt DEAL, said that they are just the first among the many who would resign asking Elsevier to accept a new payment model to make the research papers widely available.

DEAL says it would pay a lump sum to cover publication costs of papers authored by researchers in Germany, and wants the journal to let the DEAL members access the research via online open access.

A report on Science say that DEAL started negotiations with SpringerNature and Wiley earlier this year, and says the they have been productive. But the negotiations with Elsevier started last year had been stalled.